BAGNALL
BLURB
August 31st, 2012
Parents & Guardians,
Just a quick, “HOLA” to start off the year from the
perspective of your friendly GRCMS Spanish teacher! For many of you this is not
a new introduction and I have had the pleasure of teaching your GRCMS student(s)
for the past few years! But to those of you who are new to our school or just
new to having me as a Spanish teacher, I look forward to getting to know you
and your student as the year progresses!
This will be my 4th year at GRCMS and it feels SO
comfortable and exciting to be in the position I am now. Last year we graduated
our first class of 8th graders who went through the MS Spanish
program. Of that class, about a third of them tested into high school semester
3 of Spanish! It has been a blessing to witness and be a part of the continual
Spanish growth within the GRCS schools. Even so, we are continuing to make
changes, adjustments, and improvements as we head into another new year!
This year holds some big changes for me personally. For
starters I am part time for the first time. I am teaching my classes on
Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays and staying home on Mondays and Wednesdays. In
order for this to “work”, I have the privilege of team teaching with Kim
Knoester! She is a Calvin College graduate and just so happens to be the daughter
of two excellent teachers already in our GRCS family (Arie and Pat Knoester)! We
each have our own middle school Spanish classes, but we are also “sharing”
three sections. Those being: 6th
graders that have Spanish on Wednesdays and Fridays, 7th graders who
have Spanish Mondays and Thursdays and 7th graders who have Spanish
on Wednesdays and Fridays. With those classes, Kim Knoester will be
teaching the first lesson of the week and I will be teaching the second. We are
working closely together with great communication to make this a successful
schedule for all involved!
Another big personal change will be the arrival of my first
child in the middle of October. My husband and I are very much looking forward
to the start of our family and also anxious to know if we will have a son or
daughter! I will be taking time off to make my motherhood adjustment starting
around October 18th. At that point Kim Knoester will take over all
of my classes until I return after Christmas break in early January. God has
truly blessed me with a healthy pregnancy and I still feel very energetic as I
head into these weeks of school!
Just some final thoughts before I “sign off”. I wanted to
share with you what our principal, Ashanti Bryant, challenged all of us
teachers to do at our recent staff retreat. And that was to write our own
personal mission statement for teaching.
Although I am not an eloquent writer, this is what God poured onto my
heart:
“It is my calling to engage ALL
students in a Christ loving community as we learn about God’s global and LOCAL
Spanish speaking kingdom; To find ways for my students and I to partake in His
work by serving and learning from “the stranger”; To give students the tools
and practice to be loved and love those who are different from them”.
I ask you to join me in faithfully
praying throughout the year for all of my students and myself as I do my best
to live out that mission statement in this new school season. Thank you in
advance for your support, communication, and prayers! Please use my blog (www.senorabagnallsclassroom.blogspot.com
)as a way to stay in touch with what is going on in room 29 with Señora Bagnall
as well as email (bbagnall@grcs.org) and/or
calls/texts (616-322-4188)!
Gracias y Dios le
bendiga
(Thanks & God bless!),
Señora Becky Bagnall!
